Elemental Reign
by sasuxXxsakuloverXD
Summary: "Ill never forgive you! You betrayed my trust and killed off everything that we stood for...Ill never love you." "The time has come, let us see how long they can endure." when there is a choice between love and trust which would you betray...
1. Introduction

**Hey people, its sasuxXxsakuloverXD coming to you with her first ever story typed on fanfiction. This is the first chapter of Elemental Reign hope you like it. PLease feel free to Review and PM me if you have any suggestions and/or complaints on spelling, grammer, etc.**

_'italics'- _characters thoughts or a flashback

'**bold** or underlined' - important dialogue or action

'regular text' - story or character dialogue

Now...on with the show

Full summary: 100 years have passed since the last great war between the 4 great nations, Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. The world was at peace, that is until the balance was broken. Now, with war looming, battles will be fought, loyalties will be tested, blood will reign and bring the world into darkness. But, it is within the darkness that light will resurface. Chosen heroes will rise and take a stand. To fight the evil that threatens their very existence and possibly change their lives forever. The good? the bad? and the worst? Hate, jealousy, betrayal, friendship, courage, love, and lust... which will rule? For only one will be victorious, the other will fall.

**Introduction**

**oOo**

**Sakura Haruno**

Age: 17

Hair color: pink

Eye color: emerald

Element: water

Likes: anything sweet, animals, training, dancing, art, and shopping

Dislikes: fangirls/fanboys, perverts, animal abusers, snoby people who think that they're above everybody else, and karin

Personality: smart, kind, protective of personal belongings, short-tempered, stubborn, and learns from her mistakes

Status: princess of the water nation and daughter of Tsunade, ruler of the land of water and ice, friend of Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuga, Tenten Hikurashi, and Temari Sabaku

**Sasuke Uchiha**

Age: 19

Hair color: black

Eye color: onyx

Element: fire

Likes: serious training, solitude, peace and quiet, and tomatoes

Dislikes: fangirls/fanboys, people who are annoying and loud, sweets, and karin

Personality: tends to be a loner, hardly talks to anyone except for people who he thinks are worthy (very few people), known as the 'ice-king', cold-hearted, ruthless, and stubborn, not to mention very protective. Although he has a soft spot for those he cares about (again, very few people) it is rarely seen and therefor unheard of

Status: king of the fire nation, avenger of the once great uchiha clan, soul surviving heir of Mikoto and Fugaku uchiha, friend of Gaara no Sabaku, Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuga, and Naruto Uzumaki

**Naruto Uzumaki**

Age: 18

Hair color: blonde

Eye color: rare shade of blue

Element: wind

Likes: ramen, people with a kind heart, training, and flying

Dislikes: people who are evil and cruel, written tests, snobs, fangirls/fanboys, and karin

Personality: fun, carefree, kind, can lighten even the foulest of moods, loyal companion, reliable allie, may be dimwitted and oblivious at times, acts on impulse, stubborn and rash, and strives to bring about peace throughout the nations

Status: king of the wind nation, son of Jiraiya the toad sage, friend of Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, Rock Lee, and Gaara no Sabaku

There is a wisdom , my brothers and sisters, that light could surface from even the darkest of places. That hope could sumon courage , and conquer even the most futile of tasks. That love will bloom from the most unexpected encounters, and that hate could stain and ruin even the purest of souls. That one day these emotions would collide and bring about nothing but caos and destruction. The world as we know it will fall to its knees and make way for war. It is during these times that peoples faiths will be tested, and only hope and bravery can lead on in search of a better tomorrow. It allows for a person to truely discover themselves and follow a path that will lead them to their destiny...

_Swish, Swish, Swish. _Three figures leaped from tree to tree, avoiding obsticles such as flynig shuriken, and deadly poisoned needles. One figure was unlucky enough to step on a branch with an explosive tag , and jumped to avoid the on coming flames.

_'Damn, now I'm wide open to an attack'. _At that instint, multiple fire balls were aimed heading straight toward him. Said person countered with a wave of raging winds, distinguishing the flames, but not enough to stop the shuriken flying through the air. _'Huh, Teme's got to do better than that to stop me'. _With lightning reflexes, the person was able to deflect all the shuriken and stood tall with a grin adoring his face.

"Wipe that stupid grin off your face dobe. I'm just getting stared." The offender unsheathing his sword and rushing at his opponent. The later, responding by wipping out a kunai and running at him head on.

The two clashed and stood in a deadlock, niether willing to backdown in their stuggle for dominance. "Come on Sasuke-teme is that all you got! Your weaker than I remember you being last time."

"Shut up dobe I'm not even breaking a sweat yet, your the one who can't keep up." The two broke away at the same time and began furiously throwing punches and kicks at each other. "Well I can certainly see that your taijutsu hasn't improved very much Naruto. What have you been doing all this time while I was away?"

"Bastard, I'm stronger than you!" "Yeah right!" _'Hmp. Those two just won't stop. I swear they could go on for days if they wanted to.' _Another figure hid behind a tree observiving the interaction between the two shinobi.

The slightly more petite figure continued to watch the two men spar, both having determined looks on their faces. If one of them faltered, the other one would strive forward and attempt to catch his opponent off gaurd. _'Its time I make my move'. _With that said, the person sumoned up a small amount of chakra in her palm and punched the earth beneth her, creating an enormous crater. The two sparing broke away as to not get hit by the impact which sent rocks flying into the air.

Once separated, both ninja were bombarded by a flurry of cherry blossom petals. "Ninja art: Black pedal dance!" The seemingly harmless pedals were actualy tiny shards that glimmered in the sun's light and gave of the appearance of pedals. They were designed to give multiple tiny cuts to an opponent as they traveled in a tornado like fashion around them. "Chidori Nagashi!" "Kage Bushin no jutsu!"

Each were able to escape and despel the jutsu. One with a lightning tecnique, the other with the multiple clones summoned. Without warning, the clones made a mad dash for the third smaller person. Said person, however, smirked. She was prepared for this attack. Jumping back and landing in the middle of the pond near the training field, she brought her hands together and made a series of hand signs. "Water style: water dragon shock wave."

A large dragon made of water erupted from the surface and lashed out at the clones. After getting rid of most of them the dragon spread into a large wave and desended on the two remainng clones. _Poof! Poof! _The clones disapeared.

The small figure, with her attention drawn away, was not aware of the presence behind her, and was unprepard for the kick to her side that sent her flying into a tree. She was unable to react due to a pair of masculine arms that held both her wrists above her head in a vice-like grip. She looked up to see none other than a smirking Sasuke Uchiha.

"You should really pay more attention to your surroundings...Sakura."


	2. New Arrivals and Unexpected Encounters

**Hello people^.^ This is my 2nd chapter for Elemental Reign. Srry about the first chapter being so short. My window closed unexpectedly and erased half of what I wrote so I had to cut it short. But no worries:p This chapter will be longer so I hope that you enjoy it! PLease Review and PM me if you have any suggestions. Remember that this is my first story, so I'm a little rusty.**

_'italics'_- characters thoughts or flashbacks

**'bold** or underlined'- important dialogue or action

'regular text'- story or characer dialogue

Now for the second chapter...

**oOo**

**New Arrivals and Unexpected Encounters**

**oOo**

**Tsunade**

Age: 50 (looks 20)

Hair color: blonde

Eye color: amber

Element: water

Likes: sake, gambiling, sleeping, and running the water nation

Dislikes: people who are loud (cough-naruto-cough), paper work, meeting with the elders and other lords over business matters, beng woken up after sleeping (mostly on the job-not that I'm saying anything), and karin

Personality: Likes to gamble and drink sake, careing and** very **short-tempered, takes her job seriously (cough-not-cough) and is very wise

Status: leader of the water nation- queen, sakura's mother, and primary-comander of the nations army

* * *

**Jiraiya**

Age: 50 (looks 30)

Hair color: white

Eye color: black

Element: wind and earth

Likes: women (cough-pervert-cough), writting, traveling between nations, and training

Dislikes: Tsunade's short-temper, loud annoying people (again, cough-naruto-cough), and karin

Personality: carefree and lazy, likes to sneek peek on women in hotsprings but gets stoped by Tsunade and sakura, serious when it comes to missions and is strict when announcing orders

Status: really naruto's grandfather but willingly took up the role of a father since naruto's parents died when he was a child, previously lord of the wind nation but gave the job to naruto when he turned 18, wind's advisor and naruto's teacher

* * *

**Kakashi Hatake**

Age: 29

Hair color: silver

Eye color: onyx

Element: water and earth

Likes: Icha Icha Paradice novels/movies, training, laying about and strolling around the village

Dislikes: nosy people who like to get into your business, people telling him to hurry up, stuck up brats(guess who), and karin

Personality: lazy and carefree, serious and tactful, humorous, wise, and tends to be **really** late when involved with schedules

Status: advisor of the water nation, acts as a leader and spy on missions, and is sakura sasuke and naruto's sensei

* * *

**Sai**

Age: 19

Hair color: black

Eye color: black

Element: wind

Likes: painting and givng people insulting nicknames, as well as reading, writing, and training

Dislikes: annoying loud people, and karin

Personality: has a hard time understanding certain emotions (raised in an organization called ROOT- learned to be emotionless)

Status: lives in the wind nation and acts as narutos partner on certain missions, tracker and spy, friend of certain people who he thinks are worthy opponents

* * *

**Yamato**

Age: 30

Hair color: brown

Eye color: black

Element: earth (uses manly wood element based jutsu)

Likes: reading, writing, training, and relaxing

Dislikes: people who disregard others as weak and worthless because they're different (bad childhood)

Personality: go-with-the-flow type of person, strict with schedules, normally carefree, what you would call a peace-maker, and optimistic

Status: high ranking advisor of wind and sensei of sakura, naruto, and sai, as well as kakashi's partner on missions ( you can see how** that** works out for him, teehee;p)

* * *

She continued to stare and couldn't help but allow a small tint of pink to cover her cheeks. Sasuke had been gone on a 7 month mission to the shadow country. Him and his four-man cell were to infiltrate an underground base in the sound village, said to have been conducting experments and making weapons strong enough to bring an entire fortress to its knees. There, they were to act as followers of sounds emperor, and gather any leaked information that would allow them to gain an advantage over the shadow nation. It was at times like this, that any mishap on an infiltration mission could lead to war.

The land had been at peace for more than a hundred years. It wasn't until the shadow nation had started to act up, that neighboring villages began to take pre-cautions. There was talk on the black market, that the sound village was conducting unusual experiments on human subjects, said to be gruesome and un-humane. The victims, which so happened to be normal civilians and prisoners, would come out disfigured and rumored to have unimaginable powers. The victims however, lacked **something **that was needed to withstand the experimentation. If they didn't die during the process, they woould die a few days afterward. There have been numerous records of people mysteriously disapearing and never found. However no one really paid a mind to it, saying that it was sound's way of dealing with their prisoners and the unjust.

His team consisted of himself, Suigetsu from the rain village, Juugo from lightning country in Earth, and a female tracker-nin named Karin. Nobody really knew much about her or where she came from. All they knew was that she was found abandoned and had the rare ability to sense the power of an opponent by sizing up is or her chakra level. Not that she cared anyway. Karin was a snoby little tramp that thought that she was better than everybody else because Sasuke had chosen her over _all_ the other kunoichi to be on his team.

Not that it mattered to her. _She_ would have been the one on Sasuke's team had it not been for his and Naruto's outburst saying that it was to dangerous for a princess like her to travel to sound. After all, sound wasn't just your everyday tropical resort. It was famous for it's underground trafficing of stolen weapons and materials. No one but theives and murderers dared to enter the widely known _'black pit'_. Don't even get her started on all the drug dealing and prostitution that comes with living in the shadows.

What concerned the great nations the most was the talk of war. That sound broke the ancient truce by making plans to invade another nation. Suspicions began to arouse, and there have been small conflicts near the border of Earth and Fire. Standing there, she could see his features and admitted to herself that he lived up to the reputation of being the Fire Lord.

He was tall and devilishly handsome with his srong build and striking facial features. He was known as the 'ice king' for his intimidating demeanor and uncharacteristic ability to _'see'_ and copy his opponent's movements. He did this with a special trait that ran in his family's blood line. The feared Uchiha Clan's kekegenkai, the Sharingan. His Sharingan allowed him to predict his opponents movements as to where and when they would attack and what special techniques they possesed. With this, he could act on impulse and defeat is opponent without having to overwork himself and depleat his chakra.

To others who didn't know him well enough, like his team mates, Sasuke would seem like a cruel cold-heartless person who was ruthless and unmerciful on the battle field as well as showed no emotion in public. He was like a human ice-block, hence the name 'ice king'.

Her blush increased as she stared at his body. His rippling pectorals and abdominals flexed as he leaned his body forward. "Like what you see sakura?" He said with a teasing edge. "I never would have thought of you as one to stare, but I suppose it can't be helped with someone like me in your presence." _His body was perfect as if it was sculpted by the Gods themsel-wait..what? WHY THAT COCKY BASTARD! _She snapped her head up and looked at him in shock and embarrasment, but quickly changed her expression into a full time glare.

He smirked seeing the different emotions flicker across those stunning green eyes of hers. They went from realization of what she was doing, to shock, then embarrasment , and lastly anger. She glared up at him, the noticeable pink blush still present on her cheeks. She looked, dare he say it, cute.

"You look cute when your helplessly restrained to a tree." His voice a mixture of amusment and slightly mocking. A vein physicaly throbbed on her forhead. _Why that little... _She was about to respond with a nasty retort when Naruto unexplisitly decided to make his presence known. _Oh thank GOd. Naruto, put this jerk in his pla- _"Get a room you two!"

The vein in her forhead just about burst as her vision blurred to red. She pushed Sasuke off of her and punched the ground so hard, that it literally sent bolders flying toward the two ninja. "Aah-oof!" A slightly smaller rock hit Naruto straight in the face and had him spraled on the ground seeing stars. Sasuke landed next to him seemingly unfazed and unharmed. "Hn, idiot. To let something like that knock you out, tells me that you haven't been training at all."

_Something..like..that...SOMETHING LIKE THAT! _"You jerk! And to think that I actually looked up to someone like you!" She stormed off in a huff and he simply raised a perfect eyebrow._ 'Whats up with her?'_

He put that thought aside as he saw that she had begun to walk off. _'Probably back to the castle. Hn, better wake the dobe up.' _"Hey dobe, wake up, " he kicked him in the foot. "Sakura's leaving." Naruto, who was sumposedly unconcious, was up in a matter of seconds and trailng behind sakura with his hands behind his head as if nothing had happened.

His left eyebrow twitched._ ' That idiot was faking the whole time.' *sigh* 'whatever.' _He easily caught up to them as they made their way back to sakura's home.

Upon arrival to a large golden gate, the trio stopped. On the gate was a sculpture of a large sea serpent. The sculpture glowed as the creature came to life and towerd over them, its head reared high. "State your purpose." A voice sounded in their heads. Sakura stepped forward and lifted up the sleeve of her training attire. Hugging her wrist was a gold bracelet with intricate designs and a jade stone placed in the middle. The stone flashed a bright blue, the color of the ocean, and then reverted back to its original hue. The serpent nodded its head and had begun to fade back into the gate. "Welcome home, your majesty." The gate gave a small lurch, and then opened wide for them to enter.

In the castle, the three split up and headed to their respective rooms. Sakura walked past the hall to the castle's library, and made a couple turns until she reached two french styled doors that opened up to her room. Her room was large with a king size bed made of soft material that made it seem as if you were sleeping on a cloud. It held a canopy with see threw draps that fell in light ripples on all four sides. '_Kind of like a waterfall.' _She thought. In front of her bed was a small fireplace made of blue marble, with designs of water dragons and sea serpents along the outer sides.

In one corner, near the window, there was a medium sized white couch with a glass table placed neatly in the front. Her curtains matced her bed with different shades of blue, green, and gold, taking on a form of a Tsunami in one corner and moving waves on the other. In another corner of her room right above the couch and glass table, sat an intricately carved white desk with papers scatered here and there. Part of becoming queen was having to deal with **ALOT** of paper work, not to mention the long stressing hours that it took to complete them. Sakura sometimes found herself working till late in the afternoon, and normally would walk outside to take a break or visit with hinata and ino.

She walked to her walk-in closet on the left side of her bed, and chose out a plain aqua colored kimono with a dark blue trim. She then proceded to her master bathroom with baby blue, green, and white tiles. It had a white marble counter, as well as a bathtub large enough to fit ten people. It was built so that it started on the floor-down, so you could just stand up and be on the bathroom tile. The walls of the bathroom were an off-white color, with gold and green designs on them. Her shower was a sea blue-green color and had two shower heads, for _what_, she didnt know. After stripping herself of her training outfit, she stepped into her hot-water shower and began to wash her bubble gum pink hair. She applied some cherry sented shampoo in her hand and then began scrubbing her scalp. _'Hmm, this feels nice.' _She then got some of her vanilla honey body wash and rubbed off all of the dirt and sweat that clung to her body. Sometimes training would drag on for many hours, so that all she wanted to do was relax in her tub.

After rinsing herself off, she wraped her towel around herself and walked back into her room. On her bed was the kimono that she picked out as well as her undergarments. Once dressed, she walked back into her bathroom to her vanity where she proceded to do her hair. She put it in a high ponytail with a few strands hanging loose to fram her face. Rummaging through her drawers, she found what she was looking for,_ 'Ah ha!' _A blue satin ribbon, the color of the trim on her kimono, was tied ontop of her ponytail. _'There, all done.' _

She slipped into her room and put on her ninja sandals that she used for training. On her way to the door, she picked up a gold necklace with a similar jade stone hanging as a pendent. After closing the doors, she continued her journey to her mother's chambers. Upon arrival, she was greeted with a very interesting sight.

The queen herself was standing up and yelling at a very disgruntled white haired man by the name of Jiraiya, the toad sage. "Don't lie to **ME **of all people Jiraiya! I know what you did, I saw you!" Tsunade yelled. Sensing that there was some sort of trouble, she asked. "What is it? Is there some sort of trouble here?" "Yes as a matter of fact there is. I keep getting blamed for a crime that I didn't commit." " Ya-_snicker-_and he got his head whooped." Came a voice from the other side of the room. It was then did she finally notice that Naruto and Sasuke were present in the room. Seeing her look, a big grin appeared on Naruto's face. "Too you long enough Sakura-chan!" Sakura smiled back. "Sorry, I was in the shower."

"I can tell, you look all nice and clean!" "Yes, you do look quite nice today Sakura-san." Said Jiraiya all the while avoiding a punch from Tsunade. "Shut up you old fool, and leave my daughter alone. This doesn't make up for what you did!" The queen's reputation of having a short temper didn't fail her. They contnued to bicker, and she couldn't help but look confusedly between the two. Finally she turned to the two **quiet** shinobi in the corner.

Sasuke seemed bored out of his mind, and Naruto looked as if he was having the time of his life. he caught her questioning gaze and began to explain. "Oh ya,haha! Me and teme," -_points thumb in direction of said person which earned _him _a warning growl_- "met up with pervy sage here in the hallway an-" "Idiot, stop calling me that!" "_Grunts_- He wouldn't be lying even if he did." "Anyway, we met up with pervy sage-_grumble from Jiraiya, smirk from Tsunade_- and we all walked together here."

"When we opened the doors, we found Tsunade-baa chan passed out drunk on her desk with papers everywhere." -_smirk turns into a frown and a chuckle escapes from Jiraiya whch in turn gave him a nasty bump on his head_- Now that she noticed, there were two rather large bumps on the Old sanin's head. "Then pervy sage-_glare_- went to see if he could wake her up. He poked her a couple of times and she just srugged him off, so he picked up a sake bottle and was about to drink from it when Tsunade woke up and snaged him on the head!" He finished with a chuckle. Sakura giggled in spite of herself. To say she was** very** amused was an understatement.

"I didn't try to drink it! I was going to see if it was water and she was just tired, or if she really was drunk." "You were about to drink it, don't lie. I saw that stupid grin on your face!" "And what grin would that be?" "The one you put on when you think that you can get away with something." "Really Tsunade?" "YES!" "Is this really how you greet an _old_ friend? One that you haven't seen in _years_?" "Do not temp me you old fool! Instead of messing around near the _women's_ hotspring, you should have been out gathering information on Orochimaru!"

The room's atmosphere suddenly turned deadly quiet. Even Naruto who could make a joke out of anything was stotic and alert. "Orochimaru?" Everyone turned toward the voice that spoke. "You don't know?" Tsunade asked shocked. Sakura shook her head no. "Why who is he?" She gazed questioningly at her mother, who simply avoided her gaze and nodded to who she presumed was Jiraiya. He sighed and spoke. "Orochimaru is sounds emperor and leader of the shadow nation. He is the one who authorized all those experimentations and raids near the country side." "Raids?" She asked. He nodded. "Since his underground shipments were running low, he decided to retrieve them himself and hired a bunch of low-life thugs to ransack a small village near the wind nation's border."

"I don't understand? Why wasn't I informed on this earlier?" She deadpannded. It'd be only natural that _the _soon to be queen was informed on a matter suh as this. It was her responsibility to look out for her people. How could she do that if she was kept in the dark.

"You were supposed to have been informed weeks ago-" "WEEKS AGO?" she said in disbeleif. "Yes. I had expected Naruto to already have told you when he came on his last visit." "Is that so?" She directed her looked toward Naruto, her expression filled wth anger and hurt. It was then that Sasuke decided to intervene. "The dobe thought it'd be better not to worry you with it. He didn't want you to overreact if he told you that there have been multiple civilian deaths." "WHAT?" She yelled. _Now it was serious_. Sasuke put a hand to his forhead in fustration, as if he had said something that wasn't suposed to of been said.

Now she was furious. "Why didn't you tell me about this before! My nation borders the shadow nation, just as close as yours does! What if they had decided to raid the small towns near the coast? Don't you think that it would have been better to inform me about it! So that I coud take pre-cautions and avoid any possible deaths that would occur and be laid on _my_ shoulders, about _my_ people." Sakura glared at him, her breaths coming out in huffs of furry trying to cool down.

"Sakura-can...I'm sorry I-" "Don't give me that!" She snaped. "As princess, soon-to-be-queen, it is my duty to keep the people of my nation safe, just as it is yours." He didn't respond to this, but degectedly looked at the ground and sighed.

She turned her attention back to her mother. "Any other news that I have not been informed about?" "As of right now, no. Orochimaru hasn't made any moves toward invadng another nation. With the information that Sasuke's and his team have gathered, we were able to get a better insight on all the experimentation going on in sound." "Its not pretty, that's for sure." Jiraiya interjected for her. Know one spoke.

As a way to ease the tension, Sakura began to speak. "I suppose it can't be helped but to wait. We'll put that matter aside and talk about other things." Everyone in the room nodded, including the still downcast Naruto. "So," Sakura said with a smile and hint of playfulness in her voice. "What do you plan on wearing to the festival?" Tsunade and Jiraiya smiled, Sasuke smirked, and Naruto's head and eyes looked up at her. She gave him one of her forgiving smiles. He grinned back and stood up tall with his chest pushed out. Kinda like a little boy would do when they wanted to look '_manly_'. She giggled. _'Good old Naruto.'_

"Oh I'm pretty sure ino would love to help everyone with the dressing arangments." Tsunade said, an evil glint in her eye. All the men in the room stood stock still with forlorn and dreaded looks on their faces, Naruto's chest abruptly deflated. Giggles escaped from the two ladies in the room.

Sasuke was the first to recover. "No." "Aww, come on Sasuke-kun she's not that bad." Sakura chimed in. _'Last years exerience was propbably still fresh in his mind.'_

"No." He said again for firmly. His voice was like velvet with a tone of authority gracing every word. Sakura held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, sheesh! Don't bite my head off." He gave her a mini glare and smirked. "Oh, and who do you think will do the biting? Me or Rock Lee?" Her face imediatedly paled. Kind of ironic considering that there was a giganto-normous blush on her porculain cheeks. _ Oh no! _"w-w-what?" she asked shakily.

"Don't talk that way to Sakura-chan teme! You sound like some perverted freak who's had a crush on her since god know's when." '_Ya, as if that were really true.'_ She thought downheartedly. _'If only.'_ In truth, she was attracted to Sasuke. He was every girls dream. not only his looks , but everything. Over the years, she had grown to love him. At first it was just a little crush and competition with ino, but it had eventually bloomed to love.

Now, ino wasn't stupid. She knew that Sakura loved Sasuke, so she backed off. It wasn't as if he was the only cute boy available, she had once told her. She could imagine Ino daydeaming over herself and a certain shadow wielder.

"Hn. Whatever dobe. Your the idiot." He stated matter-of-factly. They could literally go on all day insulting each other, and making up some stupid nicknames that would eventually lead to an all out fight. Everyone became quiet when the door to the room slowly opened to reveal a tall figure.

Tsunade stood in her seat to announce the said person. "Oh its you. Welcome Kakashi, Yamato, Sai. I assume that your mission has been a succcess." "Yes Tsunade-sama. Everything is in check, you have nothing to worry about." Yamato responded cooly. "Good, tell me about it." She sat back in her chair. "The kazekage has informed us that he will indeed answer to your need on more weapons, considering that you have sent a great deal of medical herbs to their facilities for healing."

"Excellent! When will he get here to discuss the arrangement?" she asked.

"He said three days before the festival." "Three days huh? Thats in two weeks. I expect everything to be perpared for his arrival by then."

"Yes, my lady."

"I'll leave it in your capable hands then. Well now that that's over and done with, how have the rest of you been fairing?" "Nothing as of now. Its been rather quiet." Said an unensusiastic Kakashi, his one visible eye showed bordom.

"Hello kakashi-sensei!" Sakua greeted cheerfully. "It's been a while." Kakashi turned toward the voice and immediately brightened up to return the greeting. "Well hello Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun. How's everything been guys?"

"Obviously not very much." Deadpanded the emotionless painter.

Sai stood tall with his back straight, his gaze void of any emotion. "Ugly here hasn't done anything to improve her looks, and dickless over there has been stuffing his face with ramen because he is alot fatter than when I last saw him." He gave them all a fake smile and turned to sasuke. "The only one who seems decent enough is emo-boy over in his little corner of shame." Sasuke glared at his look-alike, a dark aura surrounding him.

Sakura put on the happiest face she could muster. "Its good to see you to Sai." '_Not!'_ She thought. Inside, she was seething with raw anger. _'Hmp! What a complete jerk!' _

_"_Now now Sai, we're their guests. Try to be a little more appreciative." Yamato said trying to ease the growing tension. The ink painter just brushed him off with an uncharacteristic, 'Hn'_._

_'No wonder they're considered look-alikes,' _Sakura thought_. 'Despite similar features, they also have the same personality'._ As an after thought..._ 'Sasuke's way cooler though.' _

It wasn't until they heard a loud screech that they turned once again to the door of the queen's chambers.

* * *

**well there we go with chapter 2! Please give me some feedbck guys. I'm starting to think that nobody has taken an interest in my story. *crys in corner* Anywho chapter 3 should be up soon. **

**Ja ne**


	3. Friends and Enemies

**Hello peolle this is my 3rd chapter, yay^.^ So...I was okay with the second chapter. I was hoping for more reviews than the first chapter, but that is to be expected since it was only the second chapter. Personally I didn't think it was that bad. I meen ya, okay it was kinda slow but the story has just started. I'm trying to introduce all of the characters before any of the good action starts. PLease feel free to Pm me if you have any suggestions, and don't forget to review. I like reading all of your comments. :D**

P.S. If your wondering what the characters look like just visit the links on my page. I already have most of them.

_'italics_'- characters thoughts or flashbacks

**'bold** or underlined'- important dialogue or action

'regular text'- story or character dialogue

**oOo**

**Friends and Enemies**

**oOo**

**Ino Yamanaka**

Age: 17

Hair color: platium blonde

Eye color: baby blue

Element: air

Likes: shopping, hanging out with friends, gossiping, going to parties, and annoying shikamaru

Dislikes: KARIN, frizzy hair, rude people, fangirls/fanboys, and sour candy

Personality: fun, stubborn, likes to party, talent for designing cloths, has a major crush on shikamaru (thats why she annoys him so much), and is very competitive when it comes to the principle of womenly features (girls you know what im talking about- looks, features, etc.)

Status: sakura's best friend as well as friend to hinata, tenten and temari

* * *

**Shikamaru Nara**

Age: 19

Hair color: black

Eye color: black

Element: controls shadows

Likes: cloud watching and sleeping

Dislikes: being forced to do stuff, loud annoying people (coughinoandnarutocough), and karin

Personality: **very** lazy, likes to spend his day cloud watching, has an IQ of 200 and is considered a genius, although he wont admit it he has a small thing for ino whether its because shes his teammate or be it something else...

Status: fire nation's battle strategist, friend of ino, choji, naruto, and sasuke

* * *

**Choji Akamichi**

Age: 18

Hair color: light brown

Eye color: brown

Element: air

Likes: Barbecue, hangng with his teammates

Dislikes: being called fat (**BIG** mstake on other persons part), people who kill just for fun, and karin

Personality: kind and very sweet, has an obsession for barbecue and chips, cares for his teammates, likes to joke around

Status: lives in the air nation, shikamaru's best friend

* * *

**Karin**

Age: 17

Hair color: red

Eye color: red

Element: fire

Likes: sasuke

Dislikes: sakura and all her friends (basically everybody)

Personality: stuck up and bitchy, gets jealous easy, flirts with alot of guys, and thinks that she is above everybody else

Status: sasuke's teammate/stalker

* * *

**Suigetsu**

Age: 18

Hair color: white

Eye color: purple

Element: water

Likes: annoyng sasuke, and fighting

Dislikes: naruto, kiba, and karin

Personality: aggressive nature towards other males (hahaha, im making him sound like a dog), likes picking fights, likes to flirt with the ladies-expecially sakura, grew up in mist country and likes to spend his time sharpening his sword

Status: sasuke's teammate an a top ranking shinobi in the water nation

* * *

**Juugo**

Age: 19

Hair color: orange

Eye color: brown - turn red when hes angry

Element: earth

Likes: walking, nature, missions and meditating

Dislikes: suigetsu and karin's constant arrgueing, and the fire lords rath when angry

Personality: quiet and polite, might seem timid but is very aggressive when it comes to fighting, usually found in a quiet place in the forest meditating

Status: sasuke's teammate and right-hand man besides naruto

* * *

As soon as sakura turned to see who was making such a fuss at the door, she instantly regretted her decision. A scowl crawled its way onto her face as she glanced at a pair of dark rimmed glasses.

Standing at the door was none other than the devil herself, looking like she was at the top of the world. She didn't even have time to react as she was thrown off her feet by a red blur that was now clinging itself to none other than a poor Sasuke Uchiha.

Lucky for her, she was caught and steadied by a quick reacting Juugo. She looked up at him and gave him a sweet smile. "Thank you Juugo."

"Not at all your highness." he replied witha similar smile. She blushed and told him to just call her sakura instead of your highness, to which he merely chuckled too.

She then turned her gaze to a bored looking Suigetsu who caught her gaze and grinned. "Hey beautiful, haven't seen you in a while. Like what you see?" He replied, mischeif and amusement glinting in his purple eyes. She flushed once again and rolled her eyes. "Maybe, maybe not." She shot back with a teasing smile. She made a mental note to thank Ino later. After all, it was _she_ that taught her how to flirt and talk back to a guy when he gave her a compliment that was meant to boost his already too big ego.

He smirked showing off his shark like teeth and was about to retort when he was interrupted by an annoying, high pitched voice.

"SASUKE, my my my, its been awhile. I can see that you've been training."_ It _said feeling his biceps. "Your looking stronger and more handsome than ever. Did you miss me while I was away?" Sasuke responded with a grunt and tried shaking the _thing_ off of his arm. He looked irritated and rather annoyed.

A vein popped on Sakura's forhead. Nobody ever dared push her out of the way and ignore her just like this bitch was doing. She atleast was expecting an insult of some sort. And to top it all off she was harrassing (cough**her**cough) sasuke.

"Well, its nice to see you to karin. Right back to being a slut I see." Sakura responded. She was beyond angry.

Karin just scoffed and rolled her eyes as she pressed herself tighter to sasuke, rubbing her D-sized breasts against his arm. Sakura's left eyebrow twiched. _'Have they gotton...bigger?'_

Her vein visibly grew in size as she heard Karin's next comment. "Well its not nice to see you ugly forhead. And how dare you interrupt my reminising with sasuke." She smiled a dreamy smile and looked up ignoring a very pissed off Sakura. "Right Sasuke-kuuunnnn! You've missed me haven't you?" Said person responded with a 'Hn', and was able to pull his arm free when he saw that it was beggining to turn purple.

The so called 'red blob' pouted and continued with what she thought was a seductive voice. "You know sasuke-kun, we haven't had some alone time in awhile. What do you say we spend some quality time together, hm?" Now it was Sasuke's turn to get angry.

"Karin I think that it'd be a good idea to detach yourself from sasuke-sama before he becomes angry." Yamato declared sensing Sasuke's displeasure and Sakura's fury. Karin turned her beady little red eyes to glare at the jonin. "Oh ya and who asked you?" She anounced in a whiny voice. Several people in the room winced at the sound. It was like a cat scratching its claws on a chalkboard.

"ENOUGH!" Screamed Tsunade standing up from her desk. "Karin remove yourself from the Fire Lord's presence at once and remain there!" Karin jumped with a squeak at the queen's rage and did as she was told. She however, continued to glare at a smug looking Sakura, who only gave her a victorious smirk and a peace sign with her fingers in a 'v' shape.

"Honestly. Have you no shame. A women shouldn't throw herself at **any** man, no matter how handsome or powerful he may be. Its stunts like that that cause women to be seen as insignificant and weak!" Tsunade sat back down and heaved a heavy sigh.

She looked back up, an unknown expression hidden deep in her amber colored eyes. "As a kunoichi you should have already been taught this. You should not be seen as being dependable to a man and livng off of his wants and needs. It may have been what our ancestors have done years ago but times are different now. Show some dignity, Karin."

"Y-y-yes maem!"

_'What an idiot.'_ Thought sakura.

Tsunade once again heaved a loud exasperated sigh. "Yamato Kakashi, Sai, your dismissed. Report back to me on the Kazekage's arrival." "Hai." All three answered in unison and disapeared in puffs of smoke.

"As for the rest of you, I expect you to help with the preparations for the Spring Festival. I want everything to be perfect, understand?"

"Hai Tsunade-sama!" "Good, you may leave."

Sasuke disappeared in the form of a black flame as Naruto dissapeared in a whirl of wind. Suigetsu melted to the floor in a puddle of water and juugo and karin left in puffs of smoke. The only one that remained was Sakura and the queen. "Is something wrong sakura?"

"Well, not exactly-" "Does this have something to do with a certain fire weilder?" Tsunade responded. She couldn't help but laugh out loud as her daughters face portayed multiple hues of pinks and reds. "W-w-what n-n-no d-don't b-b-be r-ridiculous!" Curse her stupid stuttering. She was begnning to sound like Hinata when Naruto was in her line of vision. _'No offense Hinata.'_ The girl did have a _major_ problem with her speaking skills.

"Ah, well then, tell me. Does any of this have to do with what happened at your practice this evening with Sasuke and Naruto." Sakura's face instantly fell and her eyes glazed over with disapointment and fustration. "Yes it does."

The queen's brows forrowed. "What is it?" She stood up. "What's wrong Sakura?" She was beginning to get worried. "Did something happen that I should know about?"

"Yes." Responded that pink haired princess. "I lost to Sasuke and Naruto."

"So?"

"_So!_? Mother," She said stressed. " I had hoped that I had gained the strength to at least have them panting. Sasuke and naruto seemed as if it was chunin practice with kakashi-sensei! I'm weak. I'm not strong enough. I feel as if they've left me behind. Even naruto-" She was at a loss of words. She clutched a handful of pink locks in fustration. "Ughr! Although they don't show it, you can tell that they get bored with fighting me. I want to be at their level. So that I can give them a priviledged fight! I-I-," she sat down in the chair opposite her mothers. She wanted to cry. All that training and hard work, but for what? She was below them, she-

"I...I'm not...strong enough." She said in a low whisper. Sakura hated the fact that her voice betrayed all her pent up emotions._ 'A shinobi musint show any sign of weakness. I know that,...but...I can't, stop myself. God! why am I so useless.'_ "Your not weak, Sakura." She looked at Tsunade with tear stained eyes.

By then, tsunade had risen from her chair and was now at her current position of comforting the degected princess. "Your just not there yet. You still have a long way to go. Naruto and sasuke are lords, sakura. You are merely a princess. It'd be only natural that their level of power be above yours. Not to mention that your still in training. Besides you don't recieve you full power until you're 18. The process is very straining and takes time to gather itself. There is only so much energy that it can consume at a time. That's why it takes a full 18 years for any bender to aquire their full power."

*sigh* "I know. But I can't help but feel that I could do better. that I could. become so much more."

"And you will my dear. In due time, you will. I have faith in you." She squeazed her shoulders and smiled a smile that only a mother could give. Sakura imediatedly returned the gesture and allowed her mother to wipe away her tears. Tsunade stood them both up and mouthed encouraging words as well as embraced her beloved daughter.

"Thank you mother." _'What would I ever do without you. I love you so much.' _Sakura thought as she hugged her mother feeling as though she was her only source of life. She straightened up, her head tall. A new strike of determination shown in her emerald pools. "I won't fail you!"

"I know you won't." Tsunade responded, and with a more supperior tone added, "Now, don't just sand there! Get down to the ballroom and make sure that naruto hasn't screwed anything up. I don't want that blonde idiot to be the downfall of _my_ festival. I do not, I repeat, **do not** want a repeat of last year." She inwordly shuddered. _'Please. No.' _"Understand? I'm leaving you to be in charge of superising everything. I have specific arrangements needed to be done before our presintation."

"Hai mom, but why can't you do it? Isn't it your responsibility?." Supervising was always a pain in the ass. If it wasn't one thing it was always another. Never trust a blonde to organize a party. Ino and Naruto do not make the best partners. Last years party was hell. One of the idiots, and they don't know whom-cough**_both_**cough- decided that it would be funny to spike the drinks of all the water nations important delegates, namely the elders. (Not that Tsunade had a problem with it. She found it quite funny to watch all the drunken elders make fools of themselves in front of _**everyone**_. teehee!:p) Let's just say that it was a very interesting night for most of those who attended ,_ahem._

_"_Don't you get smart with me younge lady!" Roared tsunade, leaving a poor sakura to cowar and defend for herself in the middle of the room holding for dear life onto a chair. "I'll have you know that I have _very_ important matters to asses and do not have time for little petty things such as that."_ 'Ya thats why you practacly told me to watch out for ino aanndd naruto.'_ Sakura thought, a sweatdrop magically appearing on her head. _'Shes probably going to get drunk and pass out on her paperwork again.' _

She couldn't help but feel sorry for all the trees that were cut down to make all those wasted papers.

A bigger sweatdrop appeared on her head as she stared at the towering stacks of paper on her mentors desk. The ones actually _on_ her desk covered in a small puddle of drool. To think that someday it would be her job to sign paperwork. She **was** in fact _very_ intimidated. _'Oh joy.' _**(-.-')** _'Well at least they're put to some use.'_

"Well?" The queen asked, eyebrow perked.

"Huh? What?" Sakura snapped back into reality once she saw the queen staring at her.

*Vein appears on Tsunade's head* "Are you going?"

Confused, the princess asks, "Where?"

*Bigger vein appears on Tsunade's head* "To check on Naruto."

"?" The queen was at her breaking point. And seeing as her daughter wasn't getting the hint, she gladly took the matter into her own hands.

She took in a deep breath and stood as tall as her height allowed, hovering over a now small *cute* chibi sakura.

"YOU!" sakura chibi looked about ready to cry. "ARE YOU OR ARE YOU NOT GOING TO THE BALLROOM AS I HAD ORDERED YOU TOO!"

"Y-y-y-ye-ye-ye-yes ma'em." And she was off.

...

_'Hehe! I am good.'_

* * *

Walking down the hallway toward the ballroom, Sakura noticed a shadow lurking very much near her own. She wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't separated from her own and changed repeatedly from the floor to the shadows that the curtains casted. It was around noon. The hallways would normally be illuminated with sunshine. Another important feature is that the shadow's of the curtains trailed off to the right, not the left.

If it were at any other place, she would have guessed that she was being stalked by one of oto's henchmen. But, seeing the way that the shadow moved put her at ease. No one else in her village knew how to control shadow's despite onne person, making it easy to assume who the sadow wielder was.

She smirked to herelf. _'Shikamaru. You sly dog!' _Her assumptios were correct when the said person, or in this case shadow, moved once again to be in front of her and rose from the ground transforming into a figure of a person. The first thing she remembered seeing was the signature pineapple ponytail that stuck up from the ground.

"I was wondering when you would acknowledge my presence." By now the shadow had turned into a boy. The boy(man) was about a head taller than herself with black eyes and spikey hair that was held back into a high ponytail. "Yo!" He greeted, raising a hand.

"Hello Shikamaru." She reeted back. hands on her hips she added, "How long have you been following me?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner muttering a _'troublesme'_ under his breath. "Ever since you left Tsunade's quarters." "Really?" She asked. you'd think she would have recognized his chakra signature and noticed his presence behind her. "Eh, I'm sorry Shikamaru. I didn't mean to ignore you!"

He waved his hand in front of his face and said that it was fine and that he'd be happy to accompany her to wherever she was going. This to which she cheerfully agreed to.

Together they walked the remaining steps to the ballroom. The moment they reached the door they almost decided to go back after hearing a realy loud booming voice(s) on the other side. _'Great.' _they both thought.

Sakura heaved a heavy sigh reminding herself to keep her cool and pushed the large double doors open.

* * *

Naruto you idiot! The color of the table cloths are supposed to be _**purple**_ not _orange._" Ino said the last part with digust.

"Well who asked you you blonde bimbo. Besides, orange is way cooler!" Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

"Uh! You're a blonde too fucktard!" "At least I'm not a platinum blonde! Your hair looks silver from far away. I'm surprised people still think of you as 17 and not 46!" Both Shikamaru and Sakura sweatdroped at this. If there is one thing that you wanted to avoid, is insulting Ino on her hair. The same sleek and smooth, shiny tessles that she took so much pride on. The girl practicaly brushed it every 10 min.

*Gasp* "You take that back you fox-fucker."

"Make me blonde bimbo!"

"Ramen loving freak!"

"Drama-queen!"

"Pervert!"

"What? you're calling**_ me_** a pervert?"

"Yeah as a matter of fact I am! I don't know what Hinata sees in you!"

"Oh really? Well at least _my_ Hinata-can isn't fake!"

"WTFH? At least my Shika-kun has a di-"

"ENOUGH you two!" yelled an exasperated Choji. _'When'd he get here.'_ thought sakura.

"You two have been at it for almost an hour! Can't you _-munch-_ just get along _-munch-_ so we can finish the damn _-munch-_ decorations?" Both blondes were glaring at a passive Choji, who in turn seemed oblivious to the murderous blondes and was happily muncing on his potato chips.

"Then maybe you should stop eating those chips and help us!" Seethed Ino. "I told you before, Ino _-munch-_ that you can't work on an empty stomach _-munch-_. You have to keep your strength up!"

"You've been standing there eating chips longer than **_I've_** been working hard arranging the tables." "What do you mean you?" Deadpannded Naruto. This of course which resulted into another one of Ino's temper tantrums.

*sigh* You two will never learn. I'm surprised that you two are even samurai. You spend your whole day bickering like little children."

"OH YEAH!" Sakura and Shikamaru held their breathe instatly hoping that the two idiots wouldn't say that they think they were gonna say. "WHO ASKED YOU _**FATTY**_!"

_'Uh oh.'_

"HOW DARE YOU! I'M NOT _FAT_ JUST **BIG BONED**!" *S'FH'[OYH[3J*

Oh ya, hell erupted.

* * *

Somewhere in the castle two maids were walking and stoped when they heard a loud explosion.

"Hey Maiya, did you hear that loud boom?"

"What loud boom shizuna, all I felt was a big rumble!"

"You don't think that it could be an earthquake, do you?"

A couple voices could be heard followng a high girlsh scream.

"Naa!" Both said in unison and went back to their assigned chores.

* * *

After getting scolded by sakura and shikamaru the two _idiots_ decided it was time to finally settle down and actually _work. _

"And for the last time the table covers will _not_ be purple **_or_** orange. The queen specifically asked for white with gold trim. Understand?" "...Hai."

"Good, then get to it." said sakura. "Believe it sakura-chan. I'll have these tables set up in no time!" yelled naruto, and he was off in a zoom.

"Geeze Billboardbrow. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that your just like a mini Tsunade." "Whatever pig." "WHY YOU-"

"Sakura." At the sound of her name being called, sakura spun around and came face to face with the fire lord himself. "Hey Sasuke whats up?" "Your needed at the gates.."

"Hm, What for?" "It would seem that we have some unexpected visitors."

* * *

**cliffy! Sorry that this chapter was so short. I kinda had a small writers block :P Anyway I want your reviews. I'll have the 4th chapter up soon, but for now Ja ne!**


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